Rememberance quilt
by Canadiancloneluver
Summary: This is a one shot, redone from the remembering quilt, new ending, that kind of thing. Otherwise it's the same. Under a new name too. Enjoy!


Captain Sabe clutched a bundle of cloth in his hand. As unfamiliar as he was with the Jedi temple he was determined to find what he was looking for. He knew some places, but others he'd never seen before.

Sabe touched the shoulder of a Padawan gently. "Could you tell me where I'd find Jedi Padawan Raylin Salasee, sir?"

The young Padawan nodded. "She'll be in the sewing room, trooper. Head to the library, on the far side from this side there's a hallway. Ten doors on the left, she'll be there."

"Thank you sir." Sabe nodded to the boy. He knew where the library was at least.

Sabe found himself at the library rather quickly. It was one of the more used areas of the Jedi temple and Commander Rebane had taken him and the troops there a couple times before for research purposes. His eyes spied the hallway the Padawan had mentioned and Sabe strode through, his eyes on the prize.

Sabe stood at the door of the small sewing room, waiting for the young padawan to face him. She muttered something to herself and it became apparent she didn't know he was there.

"Commander Salasee?"

She jumped and whirled around. "Oh, trooper, excuse my mess."

"That's alright Commander." Sabe stayed in the doorway, a little unsure about how to react.

"My name's Raylin, trooper. I'm not fighting am I?" Raylin blushed. "Sorry, I'm not very used to having guests."

"I'm Captain Sabe. Comm-Raylin, my men asked me if I could drop by and say thank you." Sabe didn't move from his position in the doorway but he felt much more at ease with Raylin. It surprised him that she hadn't felt him in the force though.

Raylin looked confused for a moment then realization dawned on her. "Oh, you mean for the quilts."

Sabe nodded. Raylin turned back toward her strips of fabric on the floor. A frown wrinkled her nose. She tilted her head, then thought for a moment.

"Who's your Commander?" She leaned down to replace a square of fabric with another. Sabe noticed her r's rolled when she spoke and she held a sort of accent in her voice, stressing certain parts in a word but not the others.

"Tezza Rebane." Sabe looked over Raylin's shoulder as she slid squares into place.

"Ah." Raylin turned back to face Sabe. "She's a friend of mine, that's how I got the numbers for your battalion."

"Well that makes sense. She talks about you sometimes." Sabe smiled a little.

Raylin's dark cinnamon brown skin turned a little red as she blushed. "I'm going to have to talk with her about that...Tezza let you pick the quilts yourself correct?"

Sabe nodded. "We picked them out, yes. Thank you Raylin, they're warm and give a little bit of colour to the barracks. We all enjoy them."

Raylin's skin turned from brown to a dark crimson, showing bright against her dark black braids. "They're nothing really." She picked up to pieces and slid into a chair, turning on a small machine and positioning the clothe together and just underneath it.

Sabe watched her with interest. "So I finally get to see you in action."

Raylin merely shrugged it off. "You can sit down if you like. There's a chair in the corner you can pull out if you want. It's not much though."

Sabe pulled the chair to sit on the other side of the table. "I'd like to watch anyways if you don't mind." The room was small and obviously unused by anyone but Raylin. Everything cluttered up into corners, except the quilts. Those were hung out in their glory, so many different patterns and colours Sabe had no choice but to study every one as they drew his attention.

Bright colours and darker ones, fresh and slightly used fabrics, it was amazing. Every line was flawlessly done and Sabe wondered why Raylin had gone to so much trouble for him and his brothers. Nobody had ever done anything like this for the troopers before.

Raylin had started up the machine and pulled the fabric through, when she pulled it out the two pieces were sown together, another piece of another quilt done. She reached down for another piece just as Sabe reached to hand it to her. Their hands touched and Sabe pulled back immediately, forgetting who he was with.

Raylin looked up at him almost quizzically. "Is everything alright?"

Sabe nodded. "I-don't worry about it."

Raylin nodded and slid the new piece in place. "If you don't mind handing me the pieces it's fine with me."

"That gives me something to do." Sabe responded quietly.

"Sorry." Raylin gulped. "I'm not very good company. You can go if you like."

Sabe shook his head a little. "No it's not that. We're taking a brief respite for a couple days and I don't really have anything to do."

Raylin snorted. "Don't tell Tezza that. She'll ban you from coming here just for the purposes of not letting you do anything and you getting some rest. We both know she'd do that."

Sabe chuckled. "I think I've got all the possible sleep I want at the moment."

Raylin laughed softly. "I'm sure you have."

As she finished sewing the pieces together, Sabe grabbed another one for her. "Thanks."

Sabe smiled. "Not a problem. Raylin I have a question for you."

Raylin looked up, tilting her head slightly. "Yes?"

Sabe held up the bundle of quilts in his hand and set them on the table. "These are from troopers in our battalion who were killed. I wanted to know if there's anything certain you want me to do with them.

Raylin got a watery look in her eyes. "Set them over on the edge of the table, I'll take care of them later."

"What do you do with them?" Sabe raised an eyebrow.

Raylin stood and reached for a half-finished folded up quilt. "I cut a piece from each and sew it onto here. It's my way of remembering those who died for me."

Sabe found himself feeling immense appreciation for Raylin. She didn't fight from what he'd gathered from Tezza but she seemed to respect those who did, taking the time to remember them.

"What about the rest of it?" Sabe couldn't help but ask.

"I rip the seams out and reuse the squares. I can't stand to just out in other pieces in place of the one I take out and give it to someone else. It just doesn't seem right." Raylin folded the quilt up and sat back down to continue on the other.

Sabe reached over to grip her hand. "Thank you...for remembering."

Raylin smiled sadly. "I want to."

They continued like this for the day. Sabe asking Raylin questions and the two of them talking, becoming friends. As they talked Sabe learned why Raylin couldn't fight. She got very bad dizzy spells when she moved too fast and would be too much of a danger on the battlefield. Instead she made quilts for the troopers to make up for her absence on the battlefield. When the light from outside turned to city lights and Sabe finally realized the time he bid her good night, asking if she could have a quilt ready tomorrow and he'd see her then.

Sabe slipped into the room and spoke quietly so as not to startle Raylin this time. "Hey."

Raylin turned to face Sabe. "Hey." She passed him the quilt she'd been working on yesterday and Sabe stared at it in awe.

"What did you do? Stay up working on it all night?" Sabe gaped.

Raylin laughed. "I got up around seven and finished it. I usually get up around then."

Sabe shook his head in wonderment. "It's beautiful."

"You think he'll like it?" Raylin faced him with a hopeful look and Sabe knew he couldn't say no if he wanted to. Though to be truthful, he couldn't say no anyway.

"I think so." Sabe responded and Raylin pulled him into a swift hug. Sabe started and hesitantly hugged her back. "Thank you."

Raylin shrugged modestly and pulled away. "It was nothing."

Sabe shook his head in disbelief. "It's not nothing. You have no idea how much these mean to us."

Raylin smiled. "I think I do."

This went on for the few days that Sabe had off. He came and sat with Raylin and they talked. Raylin had sparked Sabe's interest and he enjoyed her company, it was great to be able to talk every once and a while about something other than battle. When the day came for Sabe's battalion to head out, he stopped to say goodbye to Raylin and promised to visit when he next got the chance.

These chances came far and few between but Sabe worked them in. Raylin never forgot about him as she worked and Sabe found her on his mind consistently. Something he couldn't and didn't want to shake. She'd become a wonderful friend to him.

Then came order 66.

Sabe raced through the halls as fast as he dared. He didn't pause at the empty library, already littered with dead bodies. She couldn't be dead, he wouldn't allow it. Maybe someone had skipped that hallway, skipped her sewing room and mistaken it as empty.

Then the sense of dread over took him when he heard the cry. It couldn't be her, no, no, no, no, no!

Sabe skidded around the corner, his gun fired at the trooper in front of him before he even thought about it. He was dead before he hit the floor. Raylin on the other hand was not. It only took seconds before Sabe had forgotten about the brother he himself had killed.

Sabe didn't realize he could move that fast when he knelt at Raylin's side. He could see her chest moving up and down to indicate he hadn't lost her yet. Sabe gripped her hand and brushed hair away from Raylin's face. "It's alright, come on Raylin, I'm right here. Don't leave me!"

Raylin's eyes opened weakly. "Hey Sabe." She gave him a weak smile that melted Sabe's heart.

"Come on Raylin, I need you." Sabe let the tears roll down his cheeks.

Raylin reached up with her free hand and wiped them away carefully. "It's fine Sabe. I can't stay, I wish I could."

Sabe put his head down in her lap. "You can't Raylin. You don't have to go."

"Be strong, you have work to do." Raylin pulled Sabe's head up to look him in the eye. "Stay safe."

Sabe could feel more tears sliding and finding their way down his face as Raylin's breathing became slower. "Raylin please." He pleaded.

"I love you, thanks for being my family Sabe." Raylin kissed Sabe's cheek softly and lay back into her chair, her last breath gone.

Sabe put his head in his hands and wept. He could barely bring himself to look up at Raylin's peaceful face, every look made him cry harder. How could this have happened? He'd never thought about it. How could he have not been here in time to protect her? It wasn't fair!

Finally Sabe stood, nothing left to cry. He noticed the quilt on Raylin's lap, a soft fleecy one that was half finished. He reached for her remembrance quilt and cut off a piece of the one on Raylin's lap. His lines with the sewing machine weren't anywhere near as perfect as hers but it didn't matter. It was all he had left.

Sabe folded the quilt and hugged it to his chest. He stepped over the body of his brother and slipped throughout the Jedi temple, keeping out of sight from brothers.

The younglings he found made him suck in a breath.

There were five of them; three of them huddled up together, two of them pointing their lightsabers at Sabe.

"Don't...move..."

Sabe knelt down and put his blaster on the ground before standing up again. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"How can we trust you?" One of the younglings pointing a lightsaber at him, a male human, asked.

Sabe kicked the blaster towards the boy with his foot. "I like this as much as you do. I just watched my best friend get killed my by brother. And I killed my brother too."

The younglings looked up at him in wonderment.

"What do you mean?" The human spoke up again.

"Commander Salasee, I knew her. She was a friend. I didn't want her to die but I got there too late. One of my brothers shot her. I shot him. I was with her when she died. Now I just want to get out of here. I'm not going to hurt any of you unless you get in my way." Sabe explained quietly.

A Zeltron youngling stepped up. "He's telling the truth."

The human boy sighed and turned off his lightsaber. "Can you take us with you?"

Sabe thought for a moment. "Yes, I suppose."

The Zeltron smiled. "There's a ship we can use not far from here. I'm Sienna." She pointed at the boy. "He's Max." Now she pointed at a human girl. "She's Kiran." Sienna pointed behind her at two younglings, one a female Twi'lek, the other a male Roidian. "That's Tarya and Fahmin."

Sabe smiled behind his helmet. "I'm Sabe. If you know where we're going, you can lead Sienna."

Sienna nodded and skirted through the passage ways, followed by four other younglings and a clone trooper.

Sabe felt a small tug on his hand. He looked down at the owner of the hand holding his.

Tarya looked up at him. "You can save us?"

Sabe nodded and squeezed her hand. "I can and I will."

Sienna pointed in front of her. "There it is."

Sabe came up behind her; his brothers were just leaving, two guards staying behind. The ship sat idle, ready to go. Sabe waited till everyone but the two guards had left and sighted up his rifle. "I'm sorry brothers." He whispered and let loss to shots, hitting his brothers and killing them instantly. This was the third brother of his he'd taken out today and he felt guilty, but he'd made a promise to the younglings that he wasn't about to break.

Max grabbed Sabe's arm and pulled him towards the ship. "Come on."

Sabe sat at the controls, Kiran joining him.

"I know how to fly this thing, but you probably do too." she said softly.

Sabe stood up. "I'll let you have the pilot's seat then." He switched seats with her. She looked to be ten, maybe eleven or twelve, just like the rest of them. Sabe almost laughed, he was letting a ten year old pilot a ship.

But he had to admit, she was good. Kiran manuarved the ship through laser fire and out into space. "Where too?"

Sabe suddenly realized he'd been griping the seat while avoiding the starships. He thought for a moment. "Mandalore. I know a place we can go."

Kiran nodded and set in the coordinates, doing so without any help at all from Sabe.

As Sabe sat there he thought about what Raylin had said he closed his eyes. Maybe she had been right; he did still have work to do. And bringing these younglings to Mandalore was the first on his list. the second would be to find a way to honour Raylin.

Then he realized he still had the quilt and smiled sadly. He could do it.

A small hand touched his shoulder. Tarya looked up at him, concerned. "Is everything alright?"

Sabe nodded, tears leaking from his eyes. "Ya, everything's alright. Thank you, for everything."

Tarya looked confused, but nodded. Sabe chuckled and pulled her up onto his lap. He could help them. And they'd already helped him.


End file.
